Refrigerator

ABSTRACT

Provided is a refrigerator. The refrigerator includes a cabinet in which a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment are defined, a refrigerator compartment door opening and closing the refrigerator compartment, an ice making chamber defined in the refrigerator compartment door, the ice making chamber providing an ice making space, a cool air duct guiding a flow of cool air toward the ice making chamber, a duct deco disposed on an inner sidewall of the ice making chamber or the refrigerator compartment, the duct deco being disposed at each of positions corresponding to a cool air outlet port and a cool air inlet port of the cool air duct communicating with the ice making chamber, and a gasket disposed on the inner sidewall of the ice making chamber or the refrigerator compartment, the gasket being closely attached to the duct deco when the refrigerator compartment door is closed to prevent the cool air from leaking. The gasket has an inner diameter greater than that of the duct deco.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 and 35 U.S.C. 365 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2009-0029931 (Apr. 7, 2009), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator.

Generally, a refrigerator is a home appliance, which stores foods in a storage space that is shielded by a refrigerator door in order to keep foods at low temperatures, and enables foods to be stored in a fresh state by cooling the inside of the storage space using cold air generated through heat exchange with refrigerant that circulates through a cooling cycle.

Due to changes in dietary life and the pursuit of high quality products, consumers prefer larger, multi-functional refrigerators, and various convenient refrigerators have been introduced in the market.

An ice making device for making and storing ices is provided inside the refrigerator for user's convenience. The ice making device may be disposed at various positions according to types of the refrigerator.

Typically, the ice making device is disposed inside a freezer compartment or a freezer compartment door. When a separate insulation space is provided, the ice making device may be disposed in a refrigerator compartment door or a refrigerator compartment.

When the ice making device is disposed in the refrigerator compartment door, an ice making chamber in which the ice making device is received is defined in the refrigerator compartment door. A cool air duct for supplying cool air to the ice making chamber is disposed in a cabinet in which the ice making device is disposed.

The ice making chamber may communicate with the cool air duct according to the opening and closing of the refrigerator compartment door. When the refrigerator compartment door is closed, the ice making chamber and the cool air duct communicate with each other to supply the cool air to the ice making chamber. A gasket is disposed on a portion at which the ice making chamber contacts the cool air duct to prevent the cool air from leaking.

However, in the refrigerator having the above-described structure, a temperature difference between internal cool air and external cool air or the refrigerator compartment may occur at the portion contacting the gasket. As a result, the frost or the freeze may occur.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment, a refrigerator includes: a cabinet in which a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment are defined; a refrigerator compartment door opening and closing the refrigerator compartment; an ice making chamber defined in the refrigerator compartment door, the ice making chamber providing an ice making space; a cool air duct guiding a flow of cool air toward the ice making chamber; a duct deco disposed on an inner sidewall of the ice making chamber or the refrigerator compartment, the duct deco being disposed at each of positions corresponding to a cool air outlet port and a cool air inlet port of the cool air duct communicating with the ice making chamber; and a gasket disposed on the inner sidewall of the ice making chamber or the refrigerator compartment, the gasket being closely attached to the duct deco when the refrigerator compartment door is closed to prevent the cool air from leaking, wherein the gasket has an inner diameter greater than that of the duct deco.

In another embodiment, a refrigerator includes: a refrigerator compartment door covering a refrigerator compartment; an ice making chamber defined in the refrigerator compartment door, the ice making chamber providing an ice making space; a cool air duct disposed in the refrigerator compartment to provide a cool air flow path between the ice making chamber and an evaporator; a duct deco disposed in a sidewall of the refrigerator compartment corresponding to a cool air outlet port and a cool air inlet port of the cool air duct to provide a cool air path; a gasket disposed on each of a cool air intake hole and a cool air discharge hole opened to the ice making chamber to prevent the cool air from leaking when the refrigerator compartment door is closed; and a heater disposed around the duct deco to generate heat, wherein the gasket has an inner diameter greater than that of the duct deco.

The details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator with a door opened according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a cool air flow between an ice making chamber and an evaporator of a refrigerator according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a partially exploded perspective view illustrating a mounting structure of a duct deco of a refrigerator according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a partially cut perspective view of a state in which a gasket contacts an inner case in a refrigerator according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line A-A′ of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, the sprit of the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments, and other embodiments by modifications, additions, and deletions of other element also fall on the sprit of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator with a door opened according to an embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a cool air flow between an ice making chamber and an evaporator of a refrigerator according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a refrigerator 1 according to an embodiment includes a cabinet 10 defining a storage space and a door disposed on the cabinet 10 to selectively cover the storage space. An outer appearance of the refrigerator 1 is defined by the cabinet 10 and the door.

The cabinet 10 has an approximately rectangular parallelepiped shape. An inner space of the cabinet 10 is partitioned into upper and lower portions by a barrier 12 to define a refrigerator compartment 20 and a freezer compartment 30. That is, the refrigerator compartment 20 defines an upper space of the cabinet 10, and the freezer compartment 30 defines a lower space of the cabinet 10.

An evaporator 14 for generating cool air is disposed at a rear end of the inside of the freezer compartment 30. A mechanical room in which a compressor and a condenser are disposed is defined in a rear side of the freezer compartment 30.

The door includes a refrigerator compartment door 22 covering the refrigerator compartment 20 and a freezer compartment door 32 covering the freezer compartment 30.

The refrigerator compartment door 22 is provided in a pair. The pair of refrigerator compartment doors 22 is rotatably disposed on left and right sides of the cabinet 10 to selectively cover the refrigerator compartment 20. The freezer compartment door 32 is withdrawably disposed in a drawer type to selectively cover the freezer compartment 30. As necessary, the freezer compartment door 32 may be tiltably disposed on the freezer compartment 30.

An ice making chamber 100 is defined in one of the left and right refrigerator compartment doors 22. An ice maker 110 for making ices and an ice bank 120 for storing the ices are received in the ice making chamber 100. The ice making chamber 20 is defined as an independent insulation space to allow the ices to be made therein.

The ice making chamber 100 protrudes from a back surface of the refrigerator compartment door 22. The ice making chamber 100 may be integrated with the refrigerator compartment door 22 by an inner case 400 defining the back surface of the refrigerator compartment door 22. Alternatively, the ice making chamber 100 may be detachably provided as a separate member. An ice making chamber door 130 is disposed on the ice making chamber 100. The ice making chamber 100 may be selectively covered by the ice making chamber door 130.

Also, the ice maker 110 that makes the ices using supplied water is disposed at an inner upper side of the ice making chamber 100. The ice bank 120 for storing the made ices is disposed at a lower side of the ice maker 110.

An auger for preventing the stored ices from being tangled and transferring the ices when the ices are dispensed is disposed in the ice maker 120. The ice bank 120 may communicate with a dispenser (not shown) disposed in a front surface of the refrigerator compartment door 22 to dispense the ices stored in the ice bank 120 to the outside in a state where the refrigerator compartment door 22 is closed.

A cool air intake hole 140 through which the cool air for making the ices flows into the ice making chamber 100 and a cool air discharge hole 150 through which the cool air circulating the inside of the ice making chamber 100 is discharged to the outside are defined in a lateral surface of the ice making chamber 100 corresponding to a hinge side of the refrigerator compartment door 22.

The cool air intake hole 140 and the cool air discharge hole 150 pass through a sidewall of the ice making chamber 100 contacting an inner sidewall of the refrigerator compartment 20. Also, the cool air intake hole 140 and the cool air discharge hole 150 are defined at positions corresponding to a pair of openings 330 of cool air duct 300 that will be described below, respectively.

Gaskets 200 are disposed on the outsides of the cool air intake hole 140 and the cool air discharge hole 150, respectively. The respective gaskets 200 may be formed of an elastic material such as rubber or silicon and thus compress-deformable. The gaskets 200 are disposed along circumferences of the cool air intake hole 140 and the cool air discharge hole 150, respectively.

The gaskets 200 protrude from the sidewall of the ice making chamber 100 to contact the inner case 400 corresponding to the outside of respective duct decos 500 that will be described below When the refrigerator compartment door 22 is closed. Thus, it may prevent the cool air flowing into or discharged from the ice making chamber 100 from leaking between the ice making chamber 100 and the inner sidewall of the refrigerator compartment 20. Here, the gaskets 200 may be elastically deformed when they contact the inner case 400 to surface-contact the inner case 400.

The gaskets 200 may have sizes corresponding to those of the cool air intake hole 140 and the cool air discharge hole 150 to facilitate the smooth incoming and outgoing of the cool air, respectively. In particular, an inner diameter D1 of the respective gaskets 200 may have a size greater than an outer diameter D2 of the respective duct decos 500 that will be described below.

A grill part 220 for preventing foreign substances from being introduced is disposed on an opened portion of the respective gaskets 200 through which the cool air flows into or is discharged. The grill part 200 may have a concentric circular shape having a size less than the inner diameter D1 of the gasket 200 and at least one straight line shape crossing the inside thereof to facilitate the smooth flow of the cool air and prevent the foreign substances from being introduced.

The cool air duct 300 is disposed in an inner sidewall of the cabinet 10. The cool air duct 300 is configured to guide the cool air between a space in which the freezer compartment 30 or the evaporator 14 is disposed and the ice making chamber 100.

The cool air duct 300 is buried by an insulation material filled into the cabinet 10. The insulation material may prevent the cool air from being thermally lost. Also, the cool air duct 300 may be fixed to the inside of the cabinet 10 by the insulation material. The cool air duct 300 may extend from a side of the space in which the freezer compartment 30 or the evaporator 14 is disposed up to a side of the refrigerator compartment 20 corresponding to the ice making chamber 100.

An opened lower end of the cool air duct 300 may be opened at a side the freezer compartment 30 or the evaporator 14, and an upper end of the cool air duct 300 may be opened at inner sidewall of the refrigerator compartment 20 corresponding to the cool air intake hole 140 and the cool air discharge hole 150 of the ice making chamber 100 when the refrigerator compartment door 22 is closed.

The cool air duct 300 may include a supply duct 310 and a return duct 320. The supply duct 310 guides the cool air generated by the evaporator 14 toward the ice making chamber 100. The return duct 320 guides the cool air discharged from the inside to the outside of the ice making chamber 100 toward the evaporator 14. The supply duct 310 and the return duct 320 may have flow paths independent from each other and may be parallely disposed spaced from each other.

The duct decos 500 are disposed at positions corresponding to the opened positions of the upper ends of the supply duct 310 and the return duct 320. The deco ducts 500 defines inlet/outlet ports of the cool air sucked or discharged through the supply duct 310 and the return duct 320. The duct decos 500 may be exposed to the outside when the refrigerator compartment door 22 is opened.

FIG. 3 is a partially exploded perspective view illustrating a mounting structure of a duct deco of a refrigerator according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 3, an opening 330 of the upper end of the cool air duct 300 is exposed inside the inner case 400. The duct deco 500 is disposed at a position corresponding to the opening 330.

A heat transfer member 420 for transferring heat generated by a heater 410 that will be described below in detail is disposed on a back surface of the inner case 400 corresponding to a position at which the cool air duct 300 is disposed. The heat transfer member 420 may conduct the heat generated by the heater 410 to a portion of the inner case 400. The heat transfer member 420 may have an attachable sheet shape such as an aluminum foil. Here, the heat transfer member may be formed of any material capable of transferring the heat.

The heat transfer member 420 may be disposed along a circumference of the duct deco 500. The heat transfer member 420 may be disposed on the back surface of the inner case 400 contacting the gas gasket 200 and a position at which the heater 410 is disposed.

The heater 410 is disposed on the inner case 400 or the cool air duct 300 to generate the heat. The heater 410 may include a wire or a heating unit formed of a wire material. The heater 410 may surround the outside of the opening 330 of the cool air duct 300 several times.

The heater 410 may be disposed on the back surface of the inner case 400 corresponding to the gasket 200 when the refrigerator compartment door 22 is closed. Also, the heater 410 may be disposed outside a mounting part 440.

A buffer member 430 for stably fixing the cool air duct 300 is disposed on a position at which the cool air duct 300 contacts the inner case 400. The buffer member 430 may be formed of a material such as sponge. The buffer member 430 may be disposed between the cool air duct 300 and the inner case 400.

The mounting part 440 is disposed on the inner case 400 corresponding to the opening 330 of the cool air duct 300. The mounting part 440 may be configured to mount the duct deco 500 that will be described below. Also, a punched hole is defined in the mounting part 440 to expose at least portion of the opening 330, thereby entering the cool air.

The mounting part 440 has a size corresponding to that of the duct deco 500. Also, the mounding part 440 has an inwardly stepped portion to seat the duct deco 500. When the duct deco 500 is seated, inner surfaces of the duct deco 500 and the inner case 400 may be flush with each other. An insertion hole 442 is defined in the mounting part 440. Thus, a side of the duct deco 500 is inserted into the insertion hole 442.

The duct deco 500 is disposed on the inner case 400 corresponding to the opening 330 of the cool air duct 300 to prevent the external foreign substance from being introduced into the cool air duct 300 as well as to facilitate the smooth flow of the cool air. The duct deco 500 has a circular plate shape corresponding to that of the mounting part 440. The duct deco 500 has a size less than that of the gasket 200.

A grill part 510 having a plurality of holes for entering the cool air is disposed on the duct deco 500. The grill part 510 may have a various shapes. For example, the grill part 510 may have a concentric circular shape and a shape crossing the inside therein.

A fixing part 520 protruding outwardly or extending backwardly to fixedly mount the duct deco 500 is disposed on the duct deco 500. The fixing part 520 may be inserted into the insertion hole 442 defined in the mounting part 440. The fixing part 520 may have a hook shape and thus be hook-coupled to the inside the insertion hole 442.

Hereinafter, an effect of the refrigerator including the above-described components will be described in detail with reference to accompanying drawings.

FIG. 4 is a partially cut perspective view of a state in which a gasket contacts an inner case in a refrigerator according to an embodiment. FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line A-A′ of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, in the refrigerator 1, the cool air may be supplied to the inside of the ice making chamber 100 in a state where the refrigerator compartment door 22 including the ice making chamber 100 is closed.

That is, in a state where the refrigerator compartment door 22 is closed, the gasket 200 contacts the inner case 400 of the cabinet 10. Thus, the ice making chamber 100 communicates with the cool air duct 300. As a result, the cool air generated in the evaporator 14 is supplied to the ice making chamber 100 by sequentially passing through the cool air duct 310 and the cool air intake hole 140. The air heat-exchanged inside the ice making chamber 100 sequentially passes through the cool air discharge hole 150 and the return duct 320 and then is guided to the evaporator 14, whereby the overall circulation of the cool air is achieved.

Here, the gasket is closely attached to the inner case 400, and the duct deco 500 is disposed inside a cool air passage of the gasket 200. Thus, the cool air flowing through the duct deco 500 passes through the gasket 200 to prevent the cool air from leaking to the outside of the gasket 200.

Also, since the duct deco 500 is completely disposed inside the gasket 200, even a portion of the cool air leaking through a gap of the mounting part on which the duct deco 500 is mounted may be prevented from leaking to the outside of the gasket 200.

The heater 410 may be operated according to a time condition by a preset program or a flow condition of the cool air. The heat generated by the heater 410 heats a side of the inner case 400 through the heat transfer member 420. In particular, a portion contacting the gasket 200 is heated to prevent an occurrence of the frost or freeze event at the portion contacting the gasket 200.

Thus, the cool air guided to the ice making chamber 100 or the evaporator 14 through the cool air duct 300 may not leak and may smoothly flow.

In this embodiment, although the duct deco 500 is disposed in the inner wall of the refrigerator compartment 20, i.e., the inner case 400 and the gasket 200 is disposed inside the ice making chamber 100, the positions of the gasket 200 and the duct deco 500 may be exchanged at positions corresponding to each other.

That is, the duct deco 500 may be disposed inside the ice making chamber 100, and the gasket may be disposed in the inner wall of the refrigerator compartment 20, i.e., the inner case 400.

As described above, in the refrigerator 1 according to this embodiment, since the outer diameter D2 of the duct deco 500 of the cool air duct through which the cool air flows has a size less than the inner diameter D1 of the gasket 200, the duct deco 500 may be completely disposed inside the gasket 200.

Thus, the cool air passing through the duct deco 500 as well as the cool air leaking through a gap of the inner case 400 on which the duct deco 500 is mounted may pass through the inside of the gasket 200 to prevent the cool air from leaking.

Also, the heat transfer member 420 is disposed on the back surface of the inner case 400 contacting the gasket 200, and the heat transferred by the heater 410 contacting the heat transfer member 420 may heat the side of the inner case 400 contacting the gasket 200.

Thus, it may prevent the frost and freeze from occurring on the gasket 200 or the side of the inner case 400 contacting the gasket 200 due to a temperature difference between the cool air inside the gasket 200 and the cool air outside the gasket 200 or the inside of the refrigerator compartment 20.

Therefore, the cool air flowing into the ice making chamber 100 may be prevented from being lost, and the inside of the refrigerator compartment 20 may be maintained at a constant temperature. As a result, the overall ice making performance and cooling performance may be improved.

Although embodiments have been described with reference to a number of illustrative embodiments thereof, it should be understood that numerous other modifications and embodiments can be devised by those skilled in the art that will fall within the spirit and scope of the principles of this disclosure. More particularly, various variations and modifications are possible in the component parts and/or arrangements of the subject combination arrangement within the scope of the disclosure, the drawings and the appended claims. In addition to variations and modifications in the component parts and/or arrangements, alternative uses will also be apparent to those skilled in the art. 

1. A refrigerator comprising: a cabinet in which a refrigerator compartment and a freezer compartment are defined; a refrigerator compartment door opening and closing the refrigerator compartment; an ice making chamber defined in the refrigerator compartment door, the ice making chamber providing an ice making space; a cool air duct guiding a flow of cool air toward the ice making chamber; a duct deco disposed on the ice making chamber or the refrigerator compartment, the duct deco being disposed at each of positions corresponding to a cool air outlet port and a cool air inlet port of the cool air duct communicating with the ice making chamber; and a gasket disposed on the ice making chamber or the refrigerator compartment, the gasket being closely attached to the duct deco when the refrigerator compartment door is closed to prevent the cool air from leaking, wherein the gasket has an inner diameter greater than that of the duct deco.
 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the gasket has the inner diameter greater than an outer diameter of the duct deco.
 3. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the cool air duct comprises a supply duct supplying the cool air from an evaporator to the ice making chamber and a return duct recovering the cool air from the ice making chamber to the evaporator.
 4. The refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the supply duct and the return duct are separated from each other.
 5. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the duct deco is disposed flush with an inner surface of the refrigerator compartment.
 6. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the duct deco is fixedly mounted on a mounting part stepped from an inner case defining an inner surface of the cabinet.
 7. The refrigerator according to claim 6, wherein the mounting part is disposed at a position corresponding to an opening of the cool air duct.
 8. The refrigerator according to claim 6, wherein a fixing part coupled to a side of the mounting part to fix the duct deco is disposed on the duct deco.
 9. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the cool air duct is buried by an insulation material within the cabinet.
 10. A refrigerator comprising: a refrigerator compartment door opening and closing a refrigerator compartment; an ice making chamber defined in the refrigerator compartment door, the ice making chamber providing an ice making space; a cool air duct disposed in the refrigerator compartment to provide a cool air flow path between the ice making chamber and an evaporator; a duct deco disposed in a sidewall of the refrigerator compartment corresponding to a cool air outlet port and a cool air inlet port of the cool air duct to provide a cool air path; a gasket disposed on each of a cool air intake hole and a cool air discharge hole opened to the ice making chamber to prevent the cool air from leaking when the refrigerator compartment door is closed; and a heater disposed around the duct deco to generate heat, wherein the gasket has an inner diameter greater than that of the duct deco.
 11. The refrigerator according to claim 10, wherein the heater is disposed on a back surface of an inner case defining an inner surface of the refrigerator compartment.
 12. The refrigerator according to claim 11, wherein a heat transfer member transferring heat generated by the heater is disposed on the back surface of the inner case.
 13. The refrigerator according to claim 12, wherein the heat transfer member is disposed on the back surface of the inner case corresponding to a portion contacting the gasket.
 14. The refrigerator according to claim 12, wherein the heat transfer member is disposed at a position adjacent to the duct deco.
 15. The refrigerator according to claim 12, wherein the heat transfer member is disposed on the inner case corresponding to each of circumferences of the inlet and outlet ports of the cool air duct.
 16. The refrigerator according to claim 11, wherein the heater is disposed on the inner case corresponding to the gasket when the refrigerator compartment door is closed.
 17. The refrigerator according to claim 11, wherein a buffer member is disposed between the inner case and the duct deco.
 18. The refrigerator according to claim 10, wherein the heater has a wire shape and is wound around an opening of the duct deco.
 19. The refrigerator according to claim 10, wherein the duct deco is received inside the gasket when the refrigerator compartment door is closed. 